"The first victory we can claim is that our hearts are free of hatred. Hence we say to those who persecute us and who try to dominate us: ‘You are my brother. I do not hate you, but you are not going to dominate me by fear. I do not wish to impose my truth, nor do I wish you to impose yours on me. We are going to seek the truth together’. THIS IS THE LIBERATION WHICH WE ARE PROCLAIMING."
Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas (2002)

Friday, March 13, 2015

Lessons from Eastern Europe on Engagement: Poland and Romania

"I think detente had manifestly failed, and that the pursuit of it was encouraging Soviet expansion and rendering the world more dangerous, and especially rendering the Western world in greater peril." - Jeane Kirkpatrick, U.S. Ambassador to the UN for President Reagan

We have been measured and deliberate in our reaction to the tragic
events in Poland. We have not acted in haste, and the steps I will
outline tonight and others we may take in the days ahead are firm, just,
and reasonable. In order to aid the suffering Polish people during this critical
period, we will continue the shipment of food through private
humanitarian channels, but only so long as we know that the Polish
people themselves receive the food. The neighboring country of Austria
has opened her doors to refugees from Poland. I have therefore directed
that American assistance, including supplies of basic foodstuffs, be
offered to aid the Austrians in providing for these refugees. But to underscore our fundamental opposition to the repressive
actions taken by the Polish Government against its own people, the
administration has suspended all government-sponsored shipments of
agricultural and dairy’ products to the Polish Government. This
suspension will remain in force until absolute assurances are received
that distribution of these products is monitored and guaranteed by
independent agencies. We must be sure that every bit of food provided by
America goes to the Polish people, not to their oppressors. The United States is taking immediate action to suspend major
elements of our economic relationships with the Polish Government. We
have halted the renewal of the Export-Import Bank’s line of export
credit insurance to the Polish Government. We will suspend Polish civil
aviation privileges in the United States. We are suspending the right of
Poland’s fishing fleet to operate in American waters. And we’re
proposing to our allies the further restriction of high technology
exports to Poland. These actions are not directed against the Polish people. They are
a warning to the Government of Poland that free men cannot and will not
stand idly by in the face of brutal repression. To underscore this
point, I’ve written a letter to General Jaruzelski, head of the Polish
Government. In it, I outlined the steps we’re taking and warned of the
serious consequences if the Polish Government continues to use violence
against its populace. I’ve urged him to free those in arbitrary
detention, to lift martial law, and to restore the internationally
recognized rights of the Polish people to free speech and association.

This was in marked contrast to the relationship with the regime in Romania. Out of all the countries of Eastern Europe, the United States had the closest diplomatic relations with Romania. This was due to the Nixon administration seeking to exploit differences between Romania and the Soviet Union. Nicolae Ceasescu denounced the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 and continued diplomatic relations with Israel maintaining an independent foreign policy from the Soviet Union.

Richard Nixon visited Romania in August of 1969. In 1972 Romania became eligible for U.S. Export-Import Bank credits and in 1975 was accorded most favored nation status. In 1978 Nicolae Ceasescu and his wife visited Washington, DC on a state visit and was hosted by President Jimmy Carter who welcomed the dictator and described him in the following glowing terms:

I've enjoyed being with him. He's a very
good adviser. He's a man who in the past has suffered greatly,
imprisoned, tortured, but because of his courage and because of his
belief in the future of his own country, notable achievements have been
brought to the people who have confidence in him. It's a great
pleasure for me again to express my welcome to him to our country, and I
would like to propose a toast to a great leader, President Ceausescu,
and to the brave and friendly people of Romania. Mr. President, to you
and your people.

Ceausescu with Presidents Nixon, Carter and Secretary of State Schultz

Ceasescu's regime was one of the nastier dictatorships of the East block. In addition to the typical accoutrements of a Stalinist regime this "American ally" managed to reach new lows. Imagine for a moment being born and placed in a cage as a newborn washed via a hose with cold water and never experiencing human touch.

Nicolae Ceausescu decreed in 1966 that Romania would develop its “human
capital” via a government-enforced mandate to increase the country's
population. Ceauşescu, Romania's leader from 1965 to 1989, banned
contraception and abortions and imposed a “celibacy tax” on families
that had fewer than five children. State doctors—the menstrual
police—conducted gynecologic examinations in the workplace of women of
childbearing age to see whether they were producing sufficient
offspring. The birth rate initially skyrocketed. Yet because families
were too poor to keep their children, they abandoned many of them to
large state-run institutions.

Hundreds of thousands of children were subjected to this. This was the country that US taxpayers subsidized with US Export-Import Bank credits.

Meanwhile the country with the closest diplomatic and economic relationship with the United States in Eastern Europe saw the rule of Nicolae Ceasescuend in a violent blood bath. The dictator and his wife executed in a show trial on Christmas day and scores of innocent Romanians shot by the state security services. More than a thousand people were killed. The communists in power under Ceasescu remained in power until 1996 in a system marked by continuity until democrats were able to wrest control from them nonviolently. Meanwhile, Poland had already been a functioning democracy for seven years.